Into the Abyss of Fate we Fall
by Annacrusis
Summary: The gas should have changed me into a Reaper, but it changed me into something...else...
1. To be awake is to be alive

Everything is different now. My world is different, and it's about to get a whole lot worse…

I really had nothing before the blast; I was just another homeless child on the streets of the Neon. Another one of the unfortunate souls whom you help only when you feel as though you need to pity someone. Oh well, I didn't need their help. I was good at surviving, mostly by theft and kicking the lights out of anybody who messed with me. And that's saying something, because I'm a girl. It was after the blast that I started to feel venerable, and that was what kept me up at night. The fear. The fear of not waking up in the morning, the fear of being hurt, the fear of being kidnapped. It festered deep inside of me, and it was like a ball of ice that I would not melt.

Every time I would go to sleep, if I even did at all, my dreams would be haunted by images of Reapers, and then the voice would come. It was the voice of a woman, calling me by name. She said her name was Sasha and she would tell me how she had big plans for me, how she would make me powerful, strong, and untouchable. Her voice was like a poison in me, it started in my dreams and soon I could hear her during the day. She scared me shitless. Every day was like a fight for my life. I would wake up; find something, if anything, to eat. Then I would run from the Reapers, and try and not go insane from Sasha's messages in my head. When night came, I would hide out, and try and fight off sleep so I wouldn't have to have those horrible dreams.

Then Cole came. He was like a beacon of hope wherever he went. Blasting Reapers out of the streets of the Neon, helping deliver food and medical supplies, and just plain being there for the people. For a while Sasha didn't talk to me, which was a relief to me. And for that short time, I felt like a normal 18 year old. But then, she came back. And it was worse this time. I got splitting headaches, had hallucinations of monsters and Reapers, and felt weak all the time. By the time I figured out she was coming for me, it was too late.

The Reapers came for me in the middle of the night, the only night that I had a peaceful sleep. They grabbed me by the hair, and one of them stuffed a black bag over my head. I tried to fight back, to land a kick or punch, something that would help me get away. But they put me in handcuffs, and tied my legs together. I lay there, on the cold concrete of the abandoned apartment I called home, waiting for them to pull the trigger on my death. But it didn't happen. Instead I heard the sound of bare feet on the floor. Deep inside I knew it was her, and I so wanted to scream at her so many bad things, but I just laid there.

"My sweet little girl, mother is going to take you home now. I'll make sure you get better, I made the medicine myself." She said sweetly from somewhere above me. Then I felt a hand go to my neck, the sharp pain of a needle, and then nothing but darkness.


	2. Whatever you are be a good one

I don't know how long I was out, but I knew it had been a while due to the amazingly painful headache I had. Whatever they had shot into me was making my mind slow, almost as if it was in a vat of molasses. I knew I had to get out of wherever I was, but my brain was just so damn slow! So after a few deep breaths I sat up from the bed I was on, which just made the pain worse, and looked around. A sharp pain came from my hands, and found out why it was so hard to get up; my hands were still handcuffed behind my back, but my bindings on my legs were gone.

I was in some sort of metal shipping crate that was converted into a cell of sorts. At the end, where the opening should have been, was a welded together door that had a large piece of two way glass in it. Great, they can see me, but I didn't know what they were up to. But I could see what I looked like, and frankly I looked like crap. I also noted that there were a few florescent lights on the ceiling, so I couldn't be that far from civilization. The only odd thing was the fact about three of the six air vents that were in the floor didn't work. So, with a sigh, I sat back down on the bed, and rested my throbbing head on the cool metal of the wall.

I must have dozed off, for when I woke up, there was a woman sitting in front of me in a wooden chair. My stomach lurched; it was her, the woman who was in my head, who kidnapped me, who now has me prisoner.

"I'm glad you're awake, I was afraid you would never come too." She said smoothly as she smiled sweetly.

Now that I look back, I feel as though Sasha used to be a beautiful woman, that she used to be incredibly sane and smart. But the Sasha in front of me was a twisted version of what she was in the past. Her frame was strong, yet very petite, she was bald, and wore a pair of tight fitting; black leggings, and what looked like just the top part of a hoodie, with the red hood just resting on her head. She wore no shoes, or any other sort of accessories. The thing that really scared the shit out of me was her eyes; they were pitch black with just a hint of red. They showed no fear, no sadness; only knowledge, and dark secrets.

"What do you want with me?" I asked in my most confident voice, the only problem is that it came out sounding like I was a terrified little girl.

"I'm going to make you better. You have no idea the power you have inside of you. I can set it free; I can mold it into a wonderful gift. All you have to do is just stand by me, be my little apprentice so to speak." She said sounding like a mother talking to her precious child.

I was disgusted. Join her? Is she insane? Oh wait, she is.

"I will never join you; I will never become a monster like you!" I spat.

For a second, I could have sworn I saw hurt in her eyes. But then it was gone, just as quickly as it had come. Sasha then stood up, and pushed the chair over to the corner. Very carefully, she walked over to me, and placed a claw like finger under my chin and lifted my head so our eyes were level.

"I didn't want to give you up. You mean so much to me, my little angel. And I know you will never want to join me, but I have to you see? It's so we can be together, forever. Once the gas comes, it will hurt, but it will be over soon. I love you so much Helena, so much it hurts." She said, the pain coming back into her eyes.

Quickly, she unlocked my handcuffs, and walked to the door.

"Wait! What do you mean you had to give me up? What is this gas?" I yelled and got up to follow her, but she had already closed and locked the door.

I banged on the door as hard as I could, yelling at her to come back. But then, something stopped me. It was a sound, a hissing that was coming from the three broken air vents. Only they weren't broken. The last thing I remember from that moment was tears streaming down my face and backing into a corner as black gas began to pour out of the vents and seep into my lungs. Then there was nothing but white hot pain, and darkness.


	3. The truth will set you free

I don't know how long I was in that gas filled room; be it hours, days, or even weeks. All I know was that I was changing. I lay on the cold metal floor of my prison, unable to move, or even scream from the pain I was in. The pain was so bad that my mind couldn't handle it. I kept falling in and out of conscious; every time I would wake, I would have horrible hallucinations. Sometimes I would see Reapers shooting at me, or Sasha putting needles into my arms. Other times I would be back in the Neon, but everybody was dead, and all the buildings were just rubble.

There was never a time when I had rest; it was always pain and more pain. My head felt like it was splitting apart, and I could feel the poison gas rip apart my lungs and rush like molten metal through my veins. In the middle of the transformation, or whatever you call it, I began to cough up blood, but it wasn't red, it was black like tar. In that moment I let out the most horrifying scream I could muster. After I ran out of air I broke into tears that soon turned into sobs that I could not control. I crawled into a corner and curled into a ball. All I wanted was to go home. I just want to go home…

I woke up some time later to the sounds of a woman singing softly. I tried to move my head to look at her, but I was just so tired. Before my body had been wracked with pain, but now it felt drained of all energy. My mind felt like it was full of fog, and my eyesight was blurry. I tried not to panic as I blinked over and over again in an effort to clear my vision. At the same time, a hand absently brushed away a few stands of a brown hair out of the way of my face. Suddenly without even seeing me, I sensed it was Sasha. But she was different somehow; she seemed calmer, more sane. For some reason I knew her feelings, I could tell that she wasn't in the same state as she was in before.

"What have you done to me?" I mumbled, unable to do much of anything else.

"I did what I said I would. You may hate me now, but later on in life you will thank me. Besides, I'm your mother; therefore I should know what's best for you." She said, and kept gently brushing my short hair with her hand.

I felt like I had been shot through the heart.

"You're what?" I stammered, and tried to push away from her, only to fail. I did however move so that I could see her face, and it shook me how normal she looked. Sasha let out a sigh, and looked down at me with her now soft brown eyes.

My brown eyes.

"I believe you should know the truth…"

"Your father was a wonderful man, and a brilliant scientist. He and I fell in love while working for an organization called the First Sons. I'll tell you more about them later. We had only dated for a few months, but we knew we were meant for each other. We had a summer wedding, and it was simply magical. Me and your father went on with our work, and while working together we made amazing scientific discoveries. It was like we were to parts of an equation; and with both of us together we made amazing things.

About two years later I became pregnant with you; my wonderful Helena. I was about to tell your father when…when there was an accident. One of his experiments went wrong, and exploded. He was killed instantly. Your father never got to see your wonderful face. After he died, I couldn't live anymore. I fell into a deep depression. The only thing that kept me alive was the thought of seeing you come into this world. But even that was taken away from me. A man came to the First Sons and took over. His name was Kessler, and he was the man who took you away from me. After you were born, he made me give you up for adoption. He said I was a distraction, and a weakness to the First Sons. But now…now I have found you. Now we can be together…forever…"


	4. Life is but a prelude

I never really had a mother before, so when Sasha, or mom, goes and dumps all this information on my about my past that I didn't know of, and then just walks off; well I got a bit angry.

Well, first I got better after having my DNA split apart and then rearranged by that gas my caring mother so lovingly pumped into my prison. Once I got myself together, as much as I could at the time, I just about went psycho bitch on anything I saw. I ripped out the steel door that was welded into the shipping crate I was in. But, to my surprise, someone else had already done all the fighting for me.

All around me were either dead, or knocked out Reapers. Cars were on fire, there were scorch marks all over the place; almost as if a lighting storm had rolled through here. Then it hit me, Lightning Man was here. Suddenly I felt that ball of ice that was in my stomach before come back.

Mother was in trouble, I had to stop Cole. I don't really recall ever running; one moment I was by the shipping crate, and then the next moment, I was above a huge chasm in the road. Down below was rolling black water, and then sound of fighting. I jumped down to a hunk of concrete that was above the water, a leg breaking jump that only broke the concrete. Just as I was about to rush into the fight, there was a huge explosion, and then I saw him.

Cole MacGrath stood on another chunk of concrete in the black water that surrounded us both. He looked as if he was a pretty athletic guy, someone that would be cool to hang out with. But at the moment, he didn't look too happy. Blue lightning crackled over his shoulders, down his arms, and pooled into his hands. Somewhere deep inside me I knew that he was Kessler. My anger bubbled up inside me, and I almost missed them haul away a beat up Sasha. Before I could do anything to save her, they had disappeared; just like that.

Rubble was starting to fall all around me, and I looked over at Cole just as he looked at me. It was a split second that changed my life forever. But that future was going to have to wait, because I had to get out of there. I almost didn't survive getting out of the tunnel, but by some act of grace I made it back to the Neon just as the whole thing collapsed. I fell on the sidewalk, trying to get my breath back, while people stopped and looked at me like I was some sort of freak.

Little did I know that they were right.


	5. Know Thyself

I don't know how I did it, but I made it back to my shabby little apartment just as night fell over the Neon. I pulled myself onto my bed, and tried to keep the world from spinning. A voice deep inside me wondered what had become on me now, if I changed at all on the inside or worse; the outside. Very carefully, I leaned over and pulled out a small hand mirror from my bed side table. Taking a deep breath, I looked at myself.

What I saw, however, didn't scare me. In fact, it gave me a feeling of pride and a small spark of fire. My hair seemed to have gotten shorter, forming itself into a short pixie cut. It also turned at dark, midnight black color. The color of the night sky if all the lights had been extinguished. My face had become a smooth olive color and every flaw had disappeared save for my light smattering of freckles. It was my eyes that made me feel that spark of dark power. The color of my eyes had changed from a dark brown to a dark crimson red. For once in my life I actually thought about putting eyeliner around them to make them really stand out. My eyes made me look fierce and deadly, like a lion waiting to pounce on its prey.

I put the mirror down and looked at my body. While before, my body was somewhat flabby and I had a little bit of muscle, I wasn't all that attractive. But now, it was lean and muscular, but I still had some fat to give me a seductive, curvy look. Almost as if a gymnast and a pin-up girl morphed into one person. All my scars and dark spots had disappeared, and my skin, like my face, had changed to a tanned olive. I fell back onto my bed, trying to take all this in. How had this happened? Is it permanent? Has anything else changed? My world had suddenly changed in just a few short days. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach, and as I tried to get up, the floor tilted and I lost my balance. I landed on the floor in a heap, my mind begging for me to sleep.

But before my eyes shut, I saw a lone figure in a white skeleton robe walk into the room…


	6. My enemy, my friend

It seemed almost an eternity had passed when I woke up. But it wasn't the usual smells and sounds of a broken city that that usually wakes me up on a daily basis; it was the smell of coffee. I opened my eyes and blinked a few times but froze almost instantly at the sight that sat in front of me. A Reaper Conduit sat not a few feet away from me, leaning up against the wall facing me, and reading some sort of book. Every now and then, he would look down at the bubbling pot of fresh brewed coffee, and the sizzling strips of bacon. And when I mean that he "looked down" I really mean it. This Conduit, white jacket and all had a totally normal face. If he hadn't had the jacket on, and a Sub Machine gun next to him, I would have thought that he was just another bum. I had no idea what to do, so I just laid there with my eyes half shut. "I know you're awake. How do you take your coffee?" the Conduit said, not even taking his eyes from his book. Great. So I gave up being sneaky, and slowly sat up, however I instantly suffered for that choice. My bones felt like they had been taken out and beaten up and my muscles felt just as bad, if not worse. I groaned with the pain, trying not to look like a weakling to my new guest. "So, I'm guessing that some sort of introductions is in order?" I asked, grabbing one of the two cups that sat next to the coffee percolator. I gave it a quick look to make sure it was clean, then poured a large, steaming cup of coffee; poured in tons of sugar and cream, and then took a sip, letting the warm coffee ease the aching of my bones. "My name is James, and I'm here to help you. Or at least your mothers wants me to help you by sending me." He said and set down his book.


	7. Not an adventurer by choice but by fate

I looked down at the book James was reading. And out of this whole situation, it was the book that really made me look at everything differently. James was reading Anthem by Ayn Rand. In normal life I don't think I've ever heard or seen a person who was reading or had read this book. And don't get me started on the fact that a Conduit was reading it. James caught me looking at the book, and he smiled a little, showing some very white teeth. "It's one of my favorite books; even saved my life once. "He said and picked it up and showed me where a bullet at gone through it and stopped halfway through. "The bullet would have hit my heart and killed me." He mumbled and gently placed the book back on the concrete floor. James was a very interesting creature. He had shockingly ice blue eyes that seemed to just look at you and understand anything and everything. They held secrets, lies, and every emotion. Sometime you could even just sit and look at his eyes and see what he was thinking. His skin was a surprisingly flawless shade of tan. The type of tan you would see on a surfer or skateboarder. The only flaw was a long thin, white scar that started behind his right ear, went down to the back of his neck. From what I guessed he was about six foot, but he never used his height to scare people, he liked to be on their level. "Before I ask you, how old are you?" I asked; taking a large bite out of a piece of bacon James took of the skillet. "I'm thirty, why?" "You seem older." He laughed and replied, "I get that a lot." "So how come you aren't shooting me?" I asked. "Well mostly because I feel the need to. Why, should I be?" He said with a wiry smile. "Your ponytail makes you look like a hippie." I said curtly. Oh yeah, did I mention he had a ponytail? All that perfect blonde hair was pulled back into a hideous ponytail. "Ok then, no more bacon for you." He said making a hurt face as he pulled the bacon plate away. "Nuuuu!" I said and reached for the plate. What came next happened so fast that it took me a second to let it all process. As I reached for the plate, which was a good three feet from me, I seemed to jump through space and wind up almost crashing into James and the precious bacon plate. Now I want you to understand something, all this happened in a split second. It was almost like I blinked for a second longer than normal, and POOF, I was three feet in front of where I was. "Wha-what happened?" I stammered, scooting myself away from James. "Well Miss. Helena, it seems to me that a grand adventure is about to start. So eat your breakfast fast so that we can begin." He replied as he gently handed me a piece of bacon.


End file.
